When does a:focus apply?

[ed644]

When does a:focus apply? I thought that a link would have focus when the dotted box appears around a link in IE, like when a user tabs to the link using the keyboard. I've written my stylesheet like the following:

	a:link { color: #000; }
	a:visited { color: #696969; }
	a:hover { color: #696969; }
	a:active { color: #696969; }
	a:focus { color: red; }

I never seem to have red links. Any ideas?

[randem]

IE is reputably not the most standards-compliant browser. Have you tried in Mozilla?

[ed644]

No, I haven't yet tried Mozilla. I wanted to get it working in IE first, and then make it work in other browsers. Am I right in thinking that a:focus is when the dotted lines appear around a link?

[Bill Posters]

Originally posted by randem
IE is reputably not the most standards-compliant browser. Have you tried in Mozilla?

Just for the record...

I trust you are referring to IE for Windows as IE 5/5.1 for Mac is actually reputed to be *the most standards-compliant browser* available on any platform.

[randem]

Originally posted by Bill Posters

Just for the record...

IE 5/5.1 for Mac is actually reputed to be *the most standards-compliant browser* available on any platform.

... according to Microsoft ... and only regarding versions of HTML and CSS that are no longer the current standard ...

In actuality, no single browser is to my knowledge 100% compliant with the latest standards. That said, Mozilla, is at least as compliant as IE 5/mac (arguably more so), and works the same on all platforms, including Linux and Windows, and not just MacOS 9.

...back on topic...

I tried the style provided in Mozilla, and the focused link turned red, as you expected, when the dotted focus box surrounds the link. In fairness, I also tried the same code in IE, and the color did not change.

So I dug a little deeper, and after changing the color of the a:active style, I learned that IE is applying the Active style where Mozilla applies the Focus style.

And so, as I said before, IE is not performing as specified by the W3C CSS standard. For more information, visit here.

[ed644]

Thanks for your help. I guess I'll just have to live without using the focus pseudo-element in IE.